Dear Piner Families,
Welcome back to school for another fantastic year! I hope that you enjoyed summer vacation and that our students are ready to put their thinking caps back on. This will be an exciting year of discovery as we continue to learn, grow, and develop together.
Please welcome some new staff members to the Piner family: Mr. Dwight Smith is our new assistant principal. Mr. Smith has worked in the Kenton County School District for many years-some of you may remember him from his days at Twenhofel Middle School. We are thrilled to have someone with Mr. Smith’s level of professionalism and experience working with us here at Piner. Our new fourth grade teacher is Mrs. Ellen Crum. Mrs. Crum just got married over the summer, and is excited to become a part of our school and district. She joins us after several years in the Southgate School District. Mr. Matthew Record is the latest addition to our Special Education staff, after spending several years in Campbell and Pendleton Counties. He brings some valuable skills and strategies for working with elementary students. Welcome to our new staff members!
Our school wide focus this year will be on 21st Century Learning Skills, which includes problem solving, collaboration, direct application of skills, and the use of technology. Our goal is to prepare our students for the real-world demands that will be placed upon them as they grow up, and to enable them to be college and career ready.
Piner teachers continue to use innovative teaching techniques such as Math Model Drawing, Live Scoring for Constructed Response and On Demand Writing, Accountable Talk, Service Learning, and the incorporation of technology. Our goal is to engage students in the learning process as much as possible, and give them real-world applications for their learning. Mr. Smith and I will visit classrooms daily, providing feedback to the teachers on their professional practices, and observing the students at work.
Using assessments such as MAP, Common Assessments, and daily formative assessment data, teachers will identify students who need additional help or challenges in the areas of Reading and Math. Through our Response to Instruction program (RTI), students will receive targeted interventions and enrichment in both areas on a daily basis. We will maintain progress data on each child to insure that every student who attends Piner continues to make strong academic progress.
I would like to thank you in advance for your support of our teachers, staff, and students. Working together, we form a strong team that will help our students continue to “Shoot for the Moon!” Remember to contact your student’s teacher, Mr. Smith, or myself any time you have questions or concerns. We are here to help.
Thank you,
Mrs. Christi Jefferds
Principal, Piner Elementary